The Crow: Gran Pulse
by Mylaervain
Summary: Sgt. Lightning Farron returns from the grave after one year of having a restless spirit and a blank memory to find the teenager she had mentored to be dead. As a result, she seeks to make the parties responsible pay.


The New Palom Polum Graveyard, a place that on most days looks exactly what it is. A place that people place their dead and go about their lives, to visit once a twice a year at best. Even if it is bright and sunny, the land never loses the sadness that impregnates the air. To those that believe in ghost stories, rumors about paranormal activity start here. For the rest of society, all people see are pretty gravestones that decorate a square chunk of land.

Around the same day once a month, a man would be seen standing over a series of five plots. Three of them are currently being used while the other three were waiting for their tenants. An event that if his prayers would be answered wouldn't be needed any time soon.

The first of the used plots didn't have a body in it. Even so, it was more for symbolism and peace of mind than a place to store the body. Nora's grave was decorated with beautiful flowers and her headstone was an angel watching over a baby. Her epitaph read about a devoted housewife and loving mother. Then it was the usual dates of life and the general we will miss you statement.

The next grave was shaped like a celtic cross. This one belongs to Hope Esthiem, dead at sixteen years old. Sealed at the bottom was a glass box holding his bandanna. There wasn't room for an inscription, but it held his name and general information about age.

The third looked simple and not extravagant. Bartholomew offered to pay for a more elaborate one, but Serah and Snow insisted that Lightning wouldn't want something showy. The first line read Sgt. Lightning Farron. The next line read the date of birth and the death date, which ended up being a day later than Hope. The rest of the stone was perhaps a response to something that the soldier had said about her namesake. "Lightning flashes once and then fades away. For the lives that it touches the memory never fades away."

The father of the teenager left behind, Bartholomew Estheim stood in silence watching the three stones. Roses in front of Nora and Lightning, Hope's favorite candy bar stacked in a pile with older looking candy. It looked like the man could hardly breathe as his mind wished once again that this would have never happened.

"I am sorry," he whispered, hiding nothing from the stones that never spoke more than what was engraved. "I am still nothing more than a fool. I took my son for granted thinking that he would always be here. I let my wife and child go on vacation alone, and a group of strangers had to return him home. I then let him go alone when I should have been there to support him through what needed to be done. The worst crime of it all is that it didn't change how much I worked and left him to take care of himself."

Taking care of Lightning's funeral was the only thing he could do to make up for what happened to the soldier that protected Hope. Lightning held great respect in his eyes for taking care of Hope for him, and hated himself now that Hope was gone. When he rose his eyes to her grave, he had to look away, feeling guilty for what happened to her because of his failings as a father.

He had nothing to do with the group that murdered them, but he felt that he should have left early when his instinct said to. Even if it is selfish to have wanted Hope spared and perhaps someone else lose their loved ones, he admitted in the next breath that it wasn't something he would wish on any parent. To Lightning's stone he whispered. "Thank you. For everything that you have done for him. I am sorry."

Mr. Estheim quivered with grief as he sank to his knees sobbing. He didn't care who was watching him or what they would think of it. This was his punishment for his failures in life. This was his fault for not paying attention to what was important instead of falling into old habits and working to provide finacially. Reaching out after ten minutes, the tears finished falling as he touched the cross. A large black bird stood on the top of the cross, seeming to curious watch the man. "Just know that I still love you, and will see you again one day. I can't ask for forgiveness, I haven't earned it yet."

The politician stood up and brushed the debris off his suit. He still had to go to work, and they would care too much about dirt on his pants. Fortunatly, the suit was brown, so what remained wouldn't be so noticable. The man opened his mouth to speak, but the words would never come. Instead he turned away, and walked towards the exit of the graveyard. The bird didn't flap his wings, only turned his head to watch him before continuing it's buisness on the site.

The bird, once it had finished watching the man leave hopped over to the simpler stone. The black creature began to peck at it as if it were knocking on a door. Tap a few times, wait, tap a few more times and watch the ground. Eventually it started to quake, the resident in it's earthly blanket waking up. The movements grew shorter in wait until finally the lid to the coffin broke free, a normal non zombie looking arm shooting out, pulling a confused body out of the resting place.

The pink haired figure took a look around with disoriented set of eyes. Dressed in her Guardian Core uniform, Light took a look around. This can't be right, she thought as she stared at an open grave. "What?" she voiced, rough tone from nearly a year of disuse. Blue eyes moved up to stare at the grave she crawled out of.

Sgt. Lightning Farron  
2011-2AF

"Impossible..." she rasped, reaching forth and touching the name that was inscribed there. Yet there it was. What the hell happened here, and who is responsable for burying her alive! She is going to make someone pay for this...

The bird squaks.

Angrily she turned away, not paying him much mind. She didn't know whose idea it was to pull this prank, and more importantly, why didn't she remember someone trapping her alive in a coffin! More importantly, how could she sleep though it with how hard she had to fight her way out of that? Shouldn't I have suffocated?

She pondered this while she took a look at the person she was buried next to. Bad enough that she was buried alive, but next to a stranger? Everything she had thought to be true was blown out of her mind when she took in the Memorial. Hope Estheim, date the day before hers. "W...what?" she gasped, looking towards the ground.

"Ho-Hope?" she asked, disbelief while she shook her head. THIS CAN'T BE TRUE! Her inner thoughts screamed when she noticed the bandana there. Jaw closing shut when she saw the stains that looked like faded blood. The packages of aged candy bars with various signs of different ages felt and the bandana felt too detailed and elaborate for something along the lines of mischief.

She looked away trying to keep herself from reacting to the grief she felt with the idea that Hope was gone. Before she thought about it, she clenched her fist and struck the glass. A gasp when the shards cut into her skin, making her pull back and clench the injured hand. The look on her face went blank and confused when the flesh knitted itself back together as the bird called to her. She turned her attention to it with a frown when she realized... Something about her being here had something to do with the creature, a connection of sorts.

Interesting.

She swallowed when she took another look at the glass she shattered. Reaching out again, she picked up the cloth that was protected. Clutching it close to her chest, she could sense the pain of the previous owner. A tear escaped as she started to put together what she knew.

1: Hope is more than likely Dead.  
2: It was probably horrible.  
3: She was some sort of undead but not Cieth.  
4: Someone is going to pay for this.  
5: Judging from the pattern, that better not be Serah's name on that angel.  
6: She needed to find out what happened to Snow if it was her name.  
7: She needed to figure out what the deal with bird is.  
8: Sitting around here wasn't going to do anything about it.  
9: She needed to get her memory back first.

Lightning had pulled herself together while running through the the mental checklist. It seemed unlikely that the rest of their crew from the time spent as a l'Cie were dead, or at least not buried here. They would be the first place to look for answers. If anyone would be on her side, it would be them.

Her attention went to read the name on the angel, and sigh in relief. There wasn't much she could do to avenge Hope's mother, and Snow did as she asked. The fact that it wasn't another death for her to want to avenge was a godsend. That meant that perhaps Serah was alive, and hopefully well. That was something to be thankful for.

"I am sorry Hope..." she whispered, feeling that she should tell the stone that much. Something happened, and obviously she couldn't save him. What she is sorry for, she will make whoever did it pay in blood.

Wobbly at first, Light had taken her time standing up. Ok, maybe the first thing she needed to do is clean the dirt smell off her. Then change out of these drafty clothes... But where would she do that?

The bird called to her again before it started to fly. Somehow Light knew that he would guide her. It was just something that went unsaid for now. Answers would come about that, maybe Vanille or Fang knew something since they are on Gran Pulse... Aren't they? For now, Lightning could only trust her instinct to follow a stupid bird through back alleys until she got to a place that seemed to be a place she can meet what she needed.

* * *

Meanwhile

"You have had this very same dream for a few days now, Serah." Snow spoke, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders. The man was hating himself at the moment. Serah was having these nightmares, and he couldn't beat them up for her. If they were anything but images that came from Serah's subconsciousness, he could have done something about it. This was an enemy that all Snow could do is hold his love close to him. "I love you, Serah."

Serah Villiars was a tired woman. She was a stay at home mother, of a six month old baby. Her life was as happy as it could be if you could take account what she still has. She has a loving husband and the start of a new family. She knew Claire wouldn't want her to stop living just because she was gone.

"It's bittersweet really. IF these dreams are true, then I could see my sister again." she expressed that wish, longingly. Snow took a lot of steps to encourage her to talk about these with him. At first she didn't want to talk about them, knowing that they were nothing more than a desire to see her sister again. To see that her killer's paid for their crimes. It wasn't a sweet and happy dream, a dark and gothic one. "I miss her, Snow! I hate the fact that those bastards are getting away with what they had done."

A fresh batch of tears soaked Snow's shirt, causing the man to hold her close. Rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe his wife. "I know baby. I miss them too. If I could turn back time, I would do it in a heartbeat. All we can do is look forward to the future, and remember that Evan loves you. I love you. We still have Sazh, Dadj, Fang, and Vanille. We all miss them."

"I know," came a half hearted reply. Snow knew not to take that as an insult, it was close to the anniversary of Light's death. It was sudden, as if this sort of thing wasn't to anyone. They just were the least prepared for it. Then again, that means that anyone should be able to prepare for this sort of thing. Snow was doing all that he knew he could do.

"It's okay love." he soothed, trying to help Serah. "I know. We should go pay sis and Hope a visit tomorrow. Maybe that will help?"

Serah had nodded, half asleep on Snow's shoulders. Making her feel like the safest woman in the world was one thing that her husband was good at. Now she was soaking the comfort that he could give her, and allowing it to ease her mind. This was never an easy thing to do, accept the loss of people she loved.

* * *

Vanille walked along the main street, well armed and headed towards the cemetary. She liked to visit once a week, a time for her to see friends and sit to talk to them. To tell them things that they missed. It wasn't a time to always mourn, but include them in the happenings of things. The native Pulsian believed that it helped to think of them while they were alive, and not treat them as if they should be just another memory.

"It's okay Fang," she calmly talked into her cell phone as the wind started to blow a little. Not enough to show signs of a storm coming in, but enough to blow some leaves around. "I have my binding rod. Someone messes with me they will be..."

Vanille reached the gates and passed through them. Since it wasn't a very populated site yet, she could see the set of graves that she was going to visit. What she seen, there were no words for.

This unfortunatly startled Fang. One minute Vanile was speaking to her, trying to reassure, and the next there is nothing but silence. The huntress cursed as she reached for her spear. She was going to find Vanille and make sure she was alright. The streets have been crawling with Thugs for the last year, and Vanille didn't need to be added to the list of victims.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted into the younger sister's ears. She wasn't panicked, but it was obvious that she was taking the silence seriously. "Talk to me! Tell me what's going on!"

Vanille shook her head as she stepped closer to the scene. A black feather and signs of someone climbing out of Lightning's grave. The grass on Hope's grave was disturbed, she would have guessed his father, but the bandanna was taken by broken glass. "Fang, I don't know! I am okay, but something happened! You would think that someone stole Light's body, but the dirt is all wrong."

"Stay right there," Fang stated as she was out of the door and on her way by now. The pace the flirtatious woman was running, she would be there in a matter of minutes. Vanille could handle herself if she stayed there likely, but what if someone was waiting to jump her when she left? Paranoid perhaps, but nobody would have thought that Light and Hope would end that way. Light's grave robbed was very particular indeed.

Within moments, Fang hung up her cell, the memorial was in sight, and she had to be ready for anything. Vanille waited just where she was told to wait, and peering at the open grave. "Fang.." she spoke, a handful of the dirt that was shoved to the side instead of dug up. "This wasn't dug up. No piled of dirt kicked to the side, and look.

Fang followed Vanille's hand to the blood and the stolen bandanna. Fang picked up the black feather, and then noticed the tracks. "I think we need to call the others," she finally spoke, in awe of what Vanille seemed to believe as well. "It's been nearly a year, and that boot print is Lightning's shoe size I think. We have a zombie on the loose or..."

Fang held out the feather to Vanille. They thought about talking about this legend before to the surviors, but they agreed that they shouldn't. They didn't want to get everyone's hopes up, and it seems that they need to know now. As long as they keep it with themselves. If this is true, then things were going to get crazy. Less that knew everything the better it would be for Lightning.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I think I need to hide now. Oo You guys might seriously maim me for this one.


End file.
